


Sleeping Dragon

by old_and_new_friends



Series: Mako's Lovers [4]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, M/M, Minor Korra/Asami Sato, Past Asami/Mako - Freeform, Past Mako/Korra - Freeform, Past Mako/Wu, Relationship Study, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27135325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_and_new_friends/pseuds/old_and_new_friends
Summary: Mako's soul mark is apparently more common than he thought. It takes him a few times to get it right.An Anchor, a White Jade and a Sleeping Dragon.
Relationships: Iroh II/Mako (Avatar)
Series: Mako's Lovers [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095230
Comments: 1
Kudos: 72





	Sleeping Dragon

When Mako was born, there was a splotchy spot on his back. That splotch would change as he grew, until the mark on his skin formed half of an image. The other half of the image would be his soulmate’s mark. Soul marks always appeared in areas where a person could press their bodies to another. Mako always thought that was an oddly intimate thing.

When Mako met Asami, he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He knew he would have been extremely lucky to have been her soulmate, which was why the first time they had slept together, he was unsurprised to find they didn’t have matching marks.

Their marks were in relatively the exact same spot, Mako hadn’t realized they were so close in height, making it impossible for them to form an image together. Mako and Asami had laughed about it, and Asami, who didn’t really agree with soul marks, asked if he would be willing to continue their relationship anyway.

Mako agreed. He wasn’t too sure about soul marks himself.

His failing relationship with Asami soon made him realize there was a power behind the marks.

He hadn’t meant to watch her change. He didn’t even know Korra had been in the room but her back was to him and before he could figure out what had happened, his eyes were drawn to a spot on her back. It was higher up then Mako’s and on the opposite side but it still fell at the same height on Mako. With Korra on his left, they would match up perfectly to form an image.

Mako apologized and quickly retreated. He didn’t tell Asami and he ignored Korra’s advances. Soul marks didn’t have to dictate one’s life.

That plan failed.

At some point, Korra must have seen him shirtless, though Mako couldn’t think of when, as she soon latched onto the idea of their soul marks being a potential match.

When she kissed him, he was mad, but what made him even angrier was when she asked what Asami’s mark looked like.

It was overly personal, but it was also something Mako didn’t want to acknowledge. Asami and him didn’t have matching marks. Korra and him did.

Mako continued to ignore it. It wasn’t important. Soul marks didn’t have to mean anything.

Asami found out, not about the marks but the kiss and Mako knew better then to try and explain. Asami didn’t want an explanation, she wanted Mako to stop being around Korra. Mako couldn’t do that. Korra was his friend and, if their marks were to believed, his soulmate.

They broke up and the world went sideways.

When the dust cleared, Mako and Korra got together.

It was hard. Harder then dating Asami had ever been, which didn’t seem right to Mako. Surely being with your soulmate should be the easiest thing in the world?

They fought a lot over stupid things, serious things, and hurtful things.

They weren’t meshing like Mako had heard soulmates did.

Mako often sat in the bathroom of Airbender Island and stared at his mark through a mirror. Something wasn’t right and Mako had to wonder if it was him.

The first time Korra and him had sex, Mako felt off. They had matched up the marks before hand and while Korra found the image of an anchor interesting, Mako found it to be slightly suffocating.

Korra said they would ground each other. All Mako thought they were doing was holding each other down. They had different goals in life. They had different wants in life. They had different needs in life.

He loved Korra, but something wasn’t right.

When they broke up, it hurt, but not in the way the books described.

There was no sharp pain lacing his heart at a denied mark. There was no depression that sunk into his very bones. There was no panic at the lack of partnership.

Maybe those books were merely over dramatic, but Mako knew, deep in his heart the truth. He and Korra weren’t soulmates.

So, he moved on and then he met Wu.

The first time Wu had stripped in front of Mako, an event that happened with alarming frequency, Mako’s eyes had snapped to the mark on Wu’s shoulder blades.

Mako had been fooled by marks before and he hoped, at least at the beginning, that this was another trick.

He kept Wu from seeing his own mark, afraid of something happening like with Korra where, upon seeing the mark, she insisted they were soulmates.

He hid it for three years.

Then everything with Kuriva happened and Mako realized being Wu’s soulmate might actually be a good thing.

He showed Wu his mark and the two placed them together. It was a flower.

Wu claimed it to be the outline of the White Dragon flower. Mako felt that sense of wrong that fell over him with Korra, and thought White Jade might be more appropriate.

Still, he kept it to himself and continued dating Wu, and for a while it was perfect. So, perfect Mako figured he was just being overly dramatic and Wu was right, it was a White Dragon flower.

Then things started going wrong. Mako didn’t agree with the way Wu was handling the Earth Kingdom’s transition of power. Wu told Mako to stay out of it.

Their arguments grew in aggression until just seeing Wu’s paperwork made Mako mad.

He broke up with him.

Wu didn’t exactly seem sad over the whole ordeal. They had been slowly poisoning one another.

Mako gave up after that. His soul mark was clearly on a quest to break his heart. It matched so easily with others but never in the right ways.

He went about his business and as the years passed, he nearly forgot about the mark on his back.

Korra and Asami’s wedding had been beautiful. He should have known their marks matched up. Asami’s was in the same spot as his, and Korra’s had been a false match to him. Korra told him once that the robin-dove on her and Asami was a lot more reassuring then the anchor they made. Mako had to agree. A robin-dove would be quite nice at that point.

It was as he was leaving the wedding, that he came across his actual soulmate.

General Iroh was sitting at the bottom of the steps leading into the building. He looked slightly ruffled as he rubbed his knee.

“Are you okay?” Mako asked.

“Yes,” General Iroh responded. “I took a slight fall, but I seem to be in working order.”

“Are you sure?” Mako asked. “I can go get some help.”

“No need,” General Iroh said, standing. He made an odd face and reached up to the back of his jacket. His hand came back tacky with blood. “Ah, maybe a quick trip to the restroom then. I appear to have cut my back.”

General Iroh moved to walk back into the building. Mako looked between the bottom of the stairs and where the General was going before following the other man into the bathroom.

“Sorry,” Mako said, as the General startled slightly, “I just thought I’d come help.”

“It would be appreciated,” General Iroh said. “I can’t quite reach.”

Mako took the towel the General was using on his back and moved to wipe the blood from the center. As he did his eyes once more locked on a mark on a person’s back.

Mako’s stomach sank. He didn’t think he could take another failure.

He kept his mouth shut and cleaned the General’s back. Taking a moment to bush his fingertips over the General’s mark. There was a sparking under his fingertips and Mako pulled away.

They went their separate ways that day, with Mako holding the secret of their potential match to himself. It didn’t matter anyway.

General Iroh haunted him.

He would fill his dreams at night and his thoughts during the day.

Mako would wake from dreams of losing Iroh with panic. He felt lethargic during the day as if all his energy had been sapped from his body and the chronic pain in his chest didn’t help.

It took Mako a while to recall the symptoms. They were mild due to the nature of the denial, but it had still been a denial, so Mako still suffered. General Iroh most likely did too.

Mako found General Iroh on his ship.

The crew seemed curious at the presence of a Republic City Detective on the ship but Mako only had one destination. 

General Iroh’s office.

Mako knocked on the door and the General opened it. He seemed surprised to see Mako there, but let him in.

At first Mako didn’t know what to say, but as General Iroh’s face screwed up in pain and he rubbed a hand over his chest, Mako knew he needed to say something.

“I saw your soul mark,” Mako said. “I touched it, that night at Korra and Asami’s wedding.”

General Iroh looked up at him, and his own symptoms clicked into place. He looked ecstatic for a moment before his face fell.

The General licked his lips. “But you denied it,” General Iroh finished for him.

“I’ve come across false matches twice now,” Mako explained. “I figured this was another. I was wrong.” 

A hesitantly hopeful look crossed the General’s face. “So, if I asked you to dinner would you say yes?” he asked.

“I want to see something first,” Mako said.

General Iroh nodded before pulling off the top half of his uniformed. The injury from falling down stairs had scarred over.

The General pulled out a mirror from his desk drawer.

Mako was hesitant to place his side against General Iroh’s, but he eventually did and the image he saw filled his stomach with warmth. There, on their backs, was the image of a contently sleeping dragon.

“Very stereotypical,” General Iroh said.

“Better than an anchor or a White Jade flower,” Mako said. “Stereotypical is fine with me. I’d love to get dinner with you.”

“I’m glad,” General Iroh said, smiling softly at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Me once again writing random things instead of what I have planned because mental health first.


End file.
